A former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Bisi Kolawole, on Wednesday, emerged as the candidate of the party for the June 18 governorship election in the state.
Kolawole, who has been anointed by the state former governor, Ayo Fayose, as his preferred candidate for the party, is the immediate past chairman of PDP in the state.
In the keenly contested election, Kolawole, who garnered 671 votes to defeat his closest rival, another former governor of the state, Olusegun Oni, who polled 330 votes.
Other aspirants who lost to Kolawole in the poll include a former deputy governor in the state, Prof Kolapo Olusola, with 93 votes; former House of Representatives member, Wale Aribisala got 56 votes; financial expert, Kayode Adaramodu scored 10 votes; former deputy governorship candidate, Deji Ogunsakin, scored six votes and National Assembly member, Biodun Olujimi, who had earlier announced her withdrawal from the exercise polled two votes.
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The presiding officer in the governorship primary election, who is the Chairman, PDP Primary Election Committee for Ekiti State, and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, announcing the results said, “having certified the conditions and scored the highest votes by scoring 671 votes,” declared Bisi Kolawole as the winner.
Emmanuel also congratulated other aspirants for their spirit of sportsmanship and urged them to join hands to win the June 18 election.
Kolawole, in his acceptance speech, said, “It is God’s design to make me the winner of this election. I want to willingly accept it. The result has been very clear, the process has been very clear, credible and it makes everybody happy.
“I am very sure members of our party, our leaders are very happy because we have promised that once the process is very open and fair to all, we will all accept the result. It has pleased God to make me the winner of the election, I willingly accept to be the flagbearer of our great party.”
Also reacting, former Governor Oni said, “We are going to fight together to make him (Kolawole) governor. We are satisfied with the process and no one is complaining. You saw it all here.”
